Pokemon Masters: Professor Oak Battles for the First Time Ever in Exclusive Images

Professor Oak is wading into battle for the first time ever in a game, with the legendary Pokémon Prof being added to Pokémon Masters. The strategy-based mobile game, which launched in August last year, pits the player against a series of trainers that are paired up with just one Pokémon. As you progress, you add trainers to your team and send their Pokémon into battle.

Professor Oak, as a character, dates all the way back to the earliest days of the Pokémon franchise: he was the main mentor character and the first person the player encountered in 1996's Pokémon Red and Blue. You couldn't battle him in the game, though, unless you were exploiting the infamous 'Glitch Trainer' hack. (Interestingly, data uncovered later suggests that a battle with Oak was cut from those original games.)

Oak has popped up plenty of times in the intervening years across all sorts of media. We also learned, in 2016's Pokémon Sun and Moon, that Professor Oak has a cousin called Samson Oak that lives in the Hawaii-alike Alola region. And, even more recently than that, the recent launch of the creature-storing Pokémon Home app introduced another member of the Oak family: a mysterious, sunglasses-wearing chap known as Grand Oak.

Given Professor Oak's long history with the Pokémon franchise, it's somewhat surprising that he's never properly battled in a game before. But now he will! And we've even got some exclusive images to share of Oak in action in DeNA's Pokémon Masters. Here's the first one, which shows Oak with Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur...

These, of course, are the same three Pokémon that Oak asked you to choose from in Pokémon Red and Blue. He also appeared in the Nintendo Switch remakes, 2018's Pokémon Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu, to give you the same choice. And, in our second exclusive image, here's Oak in a battle giving an instruction to a Nidorino...

Good on Professor Oak for getting out of the lab for once! And it won't just be Nidorino that he's hanging out with. As you can see in our third and final exclusive image, Oak will be partnered up with the mythical Pokémon Mew...

If you want to play as Oak and Mew in Pokémon Masters, you don't have to do much: the Prof and his partner will be given, for free, to everyone that has logged into the game and completed the tutorial before this event concludes. You can log in and pick them up now!

After you've completed Chapter 2 of the game's main story, you'll be able to upgrade the sync pair of Professor Oak and Mew by completing "Professor Oak & Mew Special Missions." You'll also be able to take part in Professor Oak's "Sync Pair Story," which will explain his connection to Mew and feature appearances from the iconic trainers Red and Blue.

Pokémon Masters is available for free on iOS and Android devices, so it's not too late to get involved without breaking the bank. The Professor Oak content is live now and you'll be able to experience it until this event concludes on March, 16 at 11:59 pm ET. Here's a trailer that will tell you more...